The Meaning of the Eleusinian Mysteries (original) (raw)
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Unraveling the Eleusinian Mysteries
An essay on the background and meaning of the ancient Greek religion, Eleusinian Mysteries, and how it compares and contrasts to its feminine counterpart, The Thesmophoria.
The Contemporary Review, 1880
AT the present day it is definitively proved that there was not in the mysteries of Eleusis, any more than in the other mysteries of Greece, any dogmatic teaching; that the proceedings in them were not by way of a communication, made directly by the hierophantês to the mystês, of formal doctrinal beliefs different from the public religion and superior to it. There were, on the nights of the initiations, rites and representations of a symbolic nature, intended to awaken religious impressions in the souls of the initiated; to make them penetrate further into the knowledge of divine things, and into the inner meaning of the myths presented for adoration; and, above all, to apply to them the merits of the vicissitudes in the history of the gods by throwing down the barrier between man and the divinity. But everywhere, at Eleusis as well as at Samothrake and in the other mysteries, the teaching remained closely attached to the ceremonies themselves, and it resulted immediately therefrom for those who could understand them. It did not form a distinct part intended to supply the solution of an enigma which had long been paraded before the eyes.
The Contemporary Review, 1880
IN the religions history of Greece there is no subject more important than that of the Eleusinian mysteries; and, at the same time, there is none concerning which ideas more false are generally prevalent, even in a public composed of the best scholars. The interest and even the obscurity of the matter, the superstitious reticence with which ancient writers have encompassed themselves when speaking of it, have given scope to invention. Hence so may fanciful speculations with regard to these mysteries, which have too easily obtained credence, and against which the hypercritical school has thought it only possible to react by simple negations, and hence so many prejudices and false ideas, which are far from being yet sufficiently uprooted. I have endeavoured in the following pages to collect all that is positively known about the Eleusinia either through literary evidence, through inscriptions, or through monuments of art, and out of this to reconstruct as far as possible their history, their personnel, their rules of discipline, their public ceremonies, and their mysterious exhibitions. Nothing has here been left to fancy or to the caprices of the imagination; everything rests on formal and precise evidence. In order not to fatigue the reader I have been very sparing of erudite references; but, had I wished to do so, I could have multiplied these references to a very large extent, for there is no sentence in the present essay which is not supported by an adequate ancient text. It occurred to me that a public so enlightened, and so friendly to serious and classical studies, as the English public, might find some interest in this circumstantial description of that one of the religious institutions of Greece which has always been considered as the highest and most sacred, and which has exerted on the Hellenes the greatest moral influence.
The Contemporary Review, 1880
THE initiation of Eleusis was open to women as well as men. Originally it constituted an exclusive privilege of the citizens of Athênai, for whom, as late as the date of the war of Peloponnêsos, it was regarded as an almost indispensable obligation. Foreigners, and illegitimate children whose birth deprived them of civic rights, were thus excluded from the mysteries. At that time it was necessary for an individual born out of Attikê to get himself adopted by an Athenian before he could be admitted to the initiation; and the mythological legend related that Hêraklês and the Dioskuroi had submitted to this formality. Naturalization had the same effect, and it is stated that this was granted to Hippokratês and Anacharsis in order to allow of their being present at the mysteries. Afterwards the rigour of these precepts was relaxed in practice. The law for the exclusion of foreigners, which was traced back to Eumolpos, was always maintained, but it was understood as making initiation an Hellenic and no longer an exclusively Attic privilege. The exclusion of foreigners meant that of barbarians in general, and moreover, in consequence of the Mêdian wars, a special and still more absolute exclusion was pronounced against the Medes and Persians. All Greeks who were foreign to Attikê were admitted within the sanctuary of Eleusis on condition of being introduced by an Athenian mystagôgos. The isotelai were thus placed on the same footing in this respect with the citizens, and could serve as mystagôgoi. The large number of instances which are known of Romans being admitted without difficulty to the initiation proves that at a still later date, when the power of Rome extended over Greece, the privilege of the Hellênes was granted to the Romans, as they had ceased to be regarded as barbarians. And thus it happened that Cicero could say that the inhabitants of the most distant regions flocked to Eleusis in order to be initiated.
Paper: I Seminário Internacional Direito e Hermenêutica - "Filosofia, Democracia e Lei: ontem e hoje", 2023
The Athenian Decree of Council and Assembly titled 'Regulations concerning the Eleusinian Mysteries' (IE 13 = IG I³ 6) displays on FACE C of the pillar-stone a prescription regarding participation in both the Lesser and Greater Mysteries in the fifth century BCE. This regulation, along with further requirements for participation, has been argued in scholarship to considerably limit participation in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Admittedly, this decree mentions an exception established by the Council and approved by the Assembly, which is attested on the opisthographic stele's A Side (AI 6974), titled 'Law Concerning the Mysteries of the Eleusinian Goddesses' (IE 138) in the fourth-century BCE. Furthermore, in the fifth-century BCE's 'Decree of the First-Fruits' (IE 28a = IG I³ 78a) the Council made it imperative that all Athenians were to participate in the sacrifices at Eleusis approved by the Assembly. The exception in the Eleusis 13's regulation paired with the Eleusis 138's law has been proposed in scholarship as indicative of the Eleusinian Mysteries being a civic and open-to-all cult in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Moreover, the obligatory character in Eleusis 28a has been said to attest to the participation of the whole community in the prescribed sacrifices. However, Eleusis 13 has also been argued to point to the personal character of the Eleusinian Mysteries, particularly considering the distinction between individual levels of participation on FACE B of the inscription IG I³ 6. Considering this state of affairs, the discussion we propose to explore starts with the following question: How to conciliate these two seemingly conflicting readings regarding participation in the Eleusinian Mysteries in the fourth and fifth centuries BCE? Namely, on the one hand, prescriptions regarding the obligatory, civic participation in the Eleusinian Mysteries and, on the other hand, requirements that considerably restrict the individual's personal participation in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Eleusis ~ Unshrouding the Eleusinian Mysteries
The splendid sanctuary of Eleusis is one of a handful of rare sanctuaries where the veneration of the feminine divine continued undisturbed over the millennia. Vestiges of the largest indoor place of worship from classical times dominate this site where the Eleusinian Mysteries were performed for almost two thousand years.